Tiger Global leads $125m Series D for India's Infra.market
Tiger Global Management has led a $125 million Series D round for Indian construction marketplace Infra.market at a valuation of $2.5 billion. The same investor led a $100 million Series C in February at a valuation of $1 billion.
The round comes two days after industrial B2B services platform OfBusiness, arguably Infra.market’s closest competitor, raised a $160 million Series E at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
It extends a streak of investment in B2B supply chain and service marketplaces for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India’s fragmented light industrial sector. The best-funded player, Udaan, which connects manufacturers with various consumer-facing SMEs on an e-commerce-focused platform, has raised around $1.1 billion since 2018.
Founded in 2016, Infra.market claims to be the leading on-demand marketplace in India’s $140 billion construction materials industry, serving both industrial and retail customers. It hopes to benefit from increasing allocations for projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline initiative, which has planned projects worth $2 trillion to be executed over the next few years.
Infra.market is set to cross $1 billion in sales by the end of the 2021 calendar year and is growing 5x year-on-year with best-in-class profitability and return-on-capital metrics among all B2B commerce companies in India, according to a statement.
While domestic B2B service remains the core focus, the growing retail supply and export ends of the business have each come to represent 10% of overall sales in the past 12 months. The retail business covers 10 Indian states with a network of flagship stores and smaller dealerships. Export markets include Dubai, Singapore, Jordan, and Italy.
The company will use the Series D proceeds to expand its newer markets, increase its presence across product verticals, and explore acquisition opportunities. Recent acquisitions include Equiphunt, a rental platform for construction equipment, including heavy machinery.
“We are also embarking on new business verticals within the construction ecosystem beyond materials to enable us to provide end-to-end solutions to our customers across the lifecycle of a construction project,” Souvik Sengupta, founder of Infra.Market, said. “We are seeing huge growth in buyer wallet share as we are rapidly expanding our product portfolio and market presence.”
Previous investors include Evolvence India Fund, Accel Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Russia’s Sistema Asia Fund, and US venture firm Fundamental, all of which joined the Series C. Evolvence led a $20 million Series B in December 2020. Tiger, Accel, and Nexus co-led a $20 million Series A in 2019.
There have also been commitments from InnoVen Capital India and Alteria Capital Advisors, according to AVCJ Research.
Other Indian B2B service marketplaces receiving investment in recent months include Zetwerk, a specialist in facilitating the outsourcing of small manufacturing jobs, and Moglix, which offers a range of equipment related to lighting, cleaning, and housekeeping, as well as power tools and office supplies.
Accel and InnoVen are investors in both Zetwerk and Moglix. Tiger Global is also an investor in Moglix.
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